Parking was free in the lot behind the community center, but it was full when I arrived around 11:15. I found street parking nearby quite easily, just like fest organizers promised on their website and social media.

I started out by walking around the gym, which featured vendor booths and the food court.

I stood in a very long line in the gym to get a small swag bag to fill with goodies and to enter my raffle ticket into a box. Can you spot me in the photo below taken from the fest facebook page?

source-Mad City Facebook page

While I disliked waiting in line, I later thanked myself for doing so. When it was hard to get lunch at the food court (because of the long lines), I snacked on the peeled snacks coco nosh trail mix!

I headed back into the main building to hear Dama Wells-Foster, owner of Sol D'Licious Cafe in Kenosha, provide a great cooking demonstration.

Dama made four recipes and we got to sample every single one of them. We started with Tofu Scramble, which I can't wait to make at home sometime soon.

Next was the Mock Tuna Salad. I have made a similar recipe countless times, but Dama's tasted great and I liked the texture since she placed all of the ingredients in a food processor.

Her veggie burger was excellent too and had a chickpea base, so that was different than a lot of veg burgers I've had before.

Finally, dessert was Chocolate Mousse made with avocados, cinnamon, almond milk, etc. It was delicious!

I was really hungry and hit up the food court after the presentation. Unfortunately, the only food booth that had a reasonable line was the Green Mustache juice one, so I headed there for a juice.

I wanted to get to one more presentation before heading home, RD Jack Norris's Vegan Nutrition talk. He is the co-author of Vegan for Life.

I figure I may go vegan at some point in my life, but many statistics Jack showed made me feel pretty good about being a vegetarian too. For more info, check out his website, VeganHealth.org.

I am looking forward to returning for the 2016 Fest! I enjoyed my day in Madison immensely. While I felt like the event was super crowded and I was disappointed I couldn't eat delicious vegan food like I wanted to, that won't deter me from returning next year.